Finally….after days and days at what seemed to be an excruciating time…I finally was able to get some sewing in. I’ve been at my new job now for eight days and I’m enjoying the fact that I’m employed and appreciate the opportunity given to me by an acquaintance. I certainly don’t want to be doing what I do for the rest of my life! LOL I listen to recorded meetings all day and have to transcribe them! Talk about BORING. But..it gets me into a door that would never have been opened to me. So for that, I can deal with the boredom and luckily for me…it’s a TEMP job. I will be done on August 6th! That’s something to get excited about because then I will have the opportunity to apply within the organization and hopefully find another more permanent job. For some odd reason they give preference to people who are or have worked for them. So being an outsider trying to get in…is brutal! But I digress.

Here is what I did today. I started off making this beautiful blue linen dresden scalloped purse and then I made a rookie mistake. (Teaches me for not keeping my skills up!) I slightly scorched the back side of the blue linen material. Now I could have just cut out another piece, but heck, why waste the material when I can practice on making an appliqué!! Woo HOO!

This adorable flower covers up perfectly the boo boo I made! But I do have to get better at circles. There is a slight hiccup in the red piece. 😦 However, I think I did a SMASHING good job on it. I was quite pleased! Makes me want to try out something a bit more difficult! You should see my Pinterest board I have on appliqués!!

Here is the finished product. Oh…and I left out the darts in this one. Biggest reason…I didn’t move the appliqué far enough in to allow the darts and quite frankly, I like how this one looks in comparison to my other dresden I made. If you look at that picture (follow the link) it’s more…odd shaped. I don’t think the darts did that bag any justice, simply because of the weight of the material. They are both beautiful bags but I think that’s what’s great about making bags. You get familiar with all types of material and what will and won’t work in regards to pleats, darts, etc. I really like this pattern, but what I wish It had is the handles attached on the inside. I’m not a huge fan of handles that attach onto the outer portion of the bag. Of course I did the whole, X in the middle surrounded by a box, but It’s still not my preference. I guess I’ll just have to see how I can reconfigure the construction of this bag because there are other issues I would like to see vanish. The fact that the lining is put together with the bag and not separate making me do a slip stitch on the outer bag on the bottom. I would also like to see the lining and the dresden flap piece put together differently. I want to see scallops that curve correctly but it could be me and my sewing technique. On a good note…..

My son thought that my choice of blues for the scalloped flap was awesome, he even had some input on their order. He took sewing in school and I think he’s pretty proud of the techniques and things he learned. He even made his own pillow in class.

Not a very good picture, quite blurry but you just gotta love that smile!!

Anyway, I’ve missed sewing, and blogging but you have to have balance!